Monday, August 16, 2010

Save our world: save our ears

There is a new wave of ear treatment that is sweeping the world. It is ear candling.

In the Chinese culture, it is a luxurious sensation for the men to have their hair cut, facial hair shaved and their ears dug to remove the wax. My aunt and uncle had a hairdressing and barber shop, and it was fascinating watching the barbers dig their client's ear. They have a whole set of tools to do it and they remove flakes like oat meal.

The Chinese dig their ears and there is no question about it. My sister E. used to line us up. We lied down on her thigh, another sibling held a torch light to the ear. Sis E dug our ears with a little digger which had a tiny spoon at the ear. When I grew older, and my sister left home, it was my turn. Sometimes, a slip of hand, and the poor victim would have a very sore ear.

At the Windsor University, I actually read about this ear digging thing, and some one actually did a study. Chinese ears have dry flaky wax, White people have gluey wax. My nieces and nephews who are half white and half Chinese have a mixture.

The doctors tell us not to dig our ears, or use the cotton buds to poke our ears. If it is necessary, you go to them, and they have a special syringe to flush the wax out with water directed into the ear. But that didn't work for my Dad.

My Dad had so much wax, my sister in law and I performed an enormous job on digging his ears, and I told him, no wonder he was getting deaf.

This January, I was at a friend's house. One of the girls came back with wax candle. We performed the procedure on the Dad. I helped and we giggled at the same time. You lit the candle and stuck it into the ear. When the candle stopped burning, there were residual flakes. I don't know if they were wax, there certainly was a lot from our guinea pig.

Ear candling, also called ear coning or thermal-auricular therapy, is an alternative medicine practice claimed to improve general health and well-being by lighting one end of a hollow candle and placing the other end in the ear canal.

According to medical researchers, it is both dangerous and ineffective. Claims that the practice removes earwax are highly controversial. So save your ear, don't stick a candle in your ear. Leave it to the ear specialist.

It is very popular in Miri...don't know if it is the ear candling or removal of so much ear wax amongst the men or the chance to perhaps lie on someone's thigh...kekekeke. Pardon me for the untoward comment....but I heard it is the common practice in those "salons".